Ancient Geeks

Aha! You thought we were done talking about Harlan Ellison! You fools!

Actually, this episode is less about Ellison, and more about the contents of the anthology, Dangerous Visions, which Ellison organized and edited. The book is full of stories from well-known writers, such as Philip K. Dick, Damon Knight, Larry Niven, Poul Anderson, and others, as well as lesser-known authors whose work Ellison decided to promote. Dangerous Visio...

Planet Of The Apes was a classic. Beneath The Planet Of The Apes was supposed to be the sequel to end all ape sequels, just as World War I was supposed to be the war to end all wars. How did both of those efforts work out?

Beneath The Planet Of The Apes carried the deep distrust of human nature into another film. But now, with another astronaut (who looked a lot like the first astronaut), a first act that looked a lot like the firs...

In an earlier episode, we said that 2001: A Space Odyssey was one of the greatest SF movies ever made. Arguably, the greatest. Also one of the greatest films, period. And then in 1984 came the sequel, 2010: The Year We Make Contact.

Was it as good as the original? Definitely not. But was it a good movie? A decent sequel? Good science fiction? An effective adaptation of the book sequel that Arthur C. Clarke wrote? We'll answer all t...

In this episode, the last of our four-part series on Harlan Ellison, Steven and Tom discuss more of Ellison's works on the big and small screen.

Come for A Boy And His Dog, both the novella and the movie version. It's the rare film version of anything that Ellison wrote, and it's also not bad. You want to know what's really bad?

Stay for The Starlost, the monumentally awful Canadian science fiction TV series, based on Ellison's ide...

We continue our in-depth look at Harlan Ellison, the man and his works, with some of his most famous television scripts. "City On The Edge Of Forever" is, of course, one of the most famous and beloved episodes of the original Star Trek TV show. "Soldier" and "Demon With A Glass Hand" are two episodes written by Ellison for the science fiction anthology show, The Outer Limits. All three are at the apex of Ellison's writing for telev...

Last time, we talked about Harlan Ellison, the writer. This episode, we cover his writings. Tom and Steven review short stories, novellas, and essays that best exemplify his written work. How did we respond to his fiction, then and now? Was Ellison one of the best short story writers of his time? Can you separate the writer from the writing? Tune in to find out.

Harlequins! Five year-olds! Doppelgängers! Murderers! Timekeepers! Tel...

And so begins our multi-part look at Harlan Ellison, one of the most influential writers, editors, and personalities in the realm of "speculative fiction." In this first episode, we look at Harlan Ellison the public persona: the guy we knew from TV and radio interviews, convention appearances, writings about himself, and other avenues. Force of nature, pugnacious champion for a more serious take on the genre, nemesis of TV producer...

Don't panic! The jokes are still funny, decades after we first heard them. Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy combined dry British humor with science fiction tropes. Why did that chemistry work? Which of the different incarnations of the Hitchhiker's Guide was the best? And how many Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters could we consume?

Super-computers! Two-headed aliens! The end of the Earth! Bad poetry! Bureaucracy! Out-of-w...

One of the best SF movies ever made. Directed by one of the greatest directors ever. Co-written by said director and one of the most respected "hard" science fiction authors of the classic era. The movie that, in the last Sight & Sound poll, other film directors rated as their top movie, period. How have we not covered Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey before now? Perhaps we had not evolved enough...

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When we were kids, Saturday afternoon cartoons were a staple of our popular culture diet. So, too, were weekday afternoon cartoons. Not surprisingly, we liked the really geeky ones that featured science fiction, fantasy, and superheroes. Space Ghost, Macross, The Herculoids, Starblazers, Super Friends, Battle of the Planets, Johnny Quest...These shows shaped our tastes, as well as those of a generation of geeks.

Annoying sidekicks!...

We wrap up our in-depth coverage of the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. We continue our discussion of some of the signature episodes of the season. How do they fall in the categories of good, bad, and meh? We finish with an overall evaluation of season one. Why wasn't it better? Why did we stick with it? And what are the lessons for other TV shows?

More ridiculous Ferengi! Flying pan pizzas! Space pushers! Holodeck ...

Steven and Tom review the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. We talk about the key episodes, such as the pilot, the death of a main character, and the re-introduction of the Klingons and Romulans. We review a sampling of the good, the bad, and the meh. (Quite a lot of meh.) We talk about the strengths and weaknesses of the first season, as we saw it when it first aired, and now that we've re-watched these episodes.&nbs...

In the mid-1980s, we heard that a new Star Trek series was on the way. But it wouldn't include anyone from the cast of the original series. It was to be set decades in a future, with a new Enterprise, a new crew, and a new adversary, but still helmed by Gene Roddenberry. How did we feel about the series, when it was announced? And what were our initial reactions, when it premiered?

In this episode, we journey back to the 80s to ans...

An episode the size of the Alpha Quadrant! We go back to 1987, the year when Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered. In this first part of the discussion, we discuss the state of Star Trek at this time. This was a heyday for Star Trek subculture, full of movies, novels, reference books, tabletop games, computer games, comics, you name it. Star Trek was flourishing, all based on the original series. Plus, the conventions were popu...

The second season of the political science fiction thriller Blake's Seven advanced and improved upon the first season. Characters and situations evolved as the crew of the Liberator continued their fight against the Federation. And the season ended on a cliffhanger that changed the show even further.  

Intrigue! Wardrobe changes! Surprise twists! Supercomputers! Clones! Telly-porters! It's all here.

Ancient Geeks is a po...

In 1977, the other big science fiction film release, aside from Star Wars, was Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. Riding the wave of success from Jaws, Steven Spielberg wrote and directed the iconic UFO movie that was also a blockbuster success. From the special effects to the soundtrack, from memorable scenes to top-notch filmmaking, Close Encounters was a smash success, both commercially and artistically.

While Jaws had been a b...

When we were youngsters, first exploring science fiction, Isaac Asimov's robot stories were a must-read. The short story collection I, Robot, anthologized Asimov's stories that centered on the famous Three Laws Of Robotics, the rules that governed thinking machines in his fictional setting. Now, in the real world, the Three Laws Of Robotics are not just often-quoted among SF fans, but also among people developing robots and artific...

The Terminator was a surprise hit. We knew something good was coming with the sequel, but we had no idea what. T2 exceeded expectations, with sympathetic characters (including a friendly Terminator), a solid script, practically non-stop action, and breathtaking special effects. Yeah, we liked it then, and we still like it. What makes it a great movie, but not a perfect movie?

Come with us back to the premiere of T2, when everything...

We'll be back...with a new episode! We knew Schwarzenegger from Conan, But who was this James Cameron guy? It was a surprise hit, one of those "you gotta see this" films. Was it an action movie? A science fiction movie? Or two, two, two things in one?

Time travel! Bootstrap paradoxes! A climax in a factory! Guerrilla filmmaking! Unknown actors as the leads! Getting sued by Harlan Ellison! It's all here.

Ancient Geeks is a podcast ...